contribution and interest of Aboriginal people and · including sufficient water to flood 3,800...

1

Acknowledgement of Country

The North Central Catchment Management Authority acknowledges Aboriginal Traditional Owners within the

region, their rich culture and spiritual connection to Country. We also recognise and acknowledge the

contribution and interest of Aboriginal people and organisations in the management of land and natural

resources.

Document name: North Central Catchment Management Authority Corporate Plan 2015-16 to 2019-20

North Central Catchment Management Authority

PO Box 18 Huntly Vic 3551T: 03 5448 7124 F: 03 5448 7148

E: [email protected] www.nccma.vic.gov.au

© North Central Catchment Management Authority, 2015

All images in this publication are courtesy of the North Central CMA. Front cover images, clockwise from top

right: Farming for Sustainable Soils Field Day, Wycheproof; Bendigo Flood Study community consultation;

Catchment Dam, Barkers Creek; Hipwell Rd Channel Regulator, Gunbower Forest; Cultural Heritage mapping

Kerang wetlands; Australian Business Excellence Awards presentation night, 2014; Waterwatch activity in the

upper Loddon catchment.

This publication may be of assistance to you, but the North Central Catchment Management Authority and its

employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind, or is wholly appropriate for your

particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise

from you relying on information in this publication.

1

Table of Contents

Foreword from the Chairman and CEO 2 Part B (1): Financial Statements 20

About the North Central CMA 4 Compliance with Australian Accounting Standards 20

About the Catchment 4 Three Year Financial Statements 20

Key Regional Issues 5 Disclosure of any Corporate Overheads Allocated to Projects 20

Form of this Corporate Plan

Vision statement

6

6

Project Costing Principles 20

Part A: Statement of Corporate Intent

and Business Plan

7 Part B (2): Financial Statements 21

Strategic Direction 7 Table 4: Planned Programs for Forthcoming Financial Year 21

Business Objectives (five years) 8 Table 5: Five Year Operating Statement 22

Main Business Undertakings 9 Table 6: Five Year Statement of Cash Flows 23

Nature and Scope of Activities 11 Table 7: Five Year Balance Sheet 24

Table 1: Prescribed Government Measures 12 Table 8: Depreciation schedule 24

Regional Program 13 Figure 8: Summary of Financial Results 25

Table 2: 2015-16 Corporate Plan Project List 16 Part B (3): Cost Recovery 25

Figure 6: North Central CMA’s Regional

Investment Priorities

17

Risk Management 18

Figure 7: International Risk Management

Standard

18

Table 3: Summary of Major Risks 19

2 North Central Catchment Management Authority Corporate Plan 2015-16 to 2019-20

Foreword from the Chairman and Acting CEO

This Corporate Plan sets out the future for the North Central

Catchment Management Authority’s activities over the next

year and our focus beyond to 2019-20.

During 2015-16 we will deliver $13.3 million of natural

resource management investment across north central

Victoria.

Our priorities and the 2015-16 year ahead

The North Central Catchment Management Authority’s funding

priorities for this Corporate Plan include:

Fulfilling our stewardship obligations by implementing the

2013-19 North Central Regional Catchment Strategy and

the 2014-22 North Central Regional Waterway Strategy.

Fulfilling our statutory obligations to the Victorian

Government in monitoring the uptake of salinity credits

allocated across the region and provide technical input to

the Basin Salinity Management Strategy Register A five-

year review. We will complete five-year reviews for the

Barr Creek Catchment Strategy, the Kerang Lakes /Swan

Hill Salinity Management Plan, and the Woorinen

Irrigation District Excision.

Completing 12 site-specific environmental water

management plans (EWMP) to be incorporated in

Victoria’s long-term watering plan as part of the

Implementing Water Reform in the Murray Darling Basin.

Continuing to implement the Caring for the Campaspe

River project - the first large-scale on-ground works

project delivering river health improvements to this

significant asset.

Finalising our Regional Climate Change Adaptation and

Mitigation Plan to complement our Regional Catchment

Strategy.

Working closely with local government to embed flood

study information into strong planning outcomes and

partnering with our municipalities in sourcing funding to

implement flood mitigation and urban drainage works.

Implementing the fourth year of the Kyneton Woodlands

project which aims to assist landholders to protect,

manage and re-establish Grassy Woodlands as biodiverse

carbon stores on their land in an area primarily north of

Kyneton.

Continuing to develop and investigate the Guttrum and

Benwell state forests and the Gunbower National Park

Environmental Works projects to deliver environmental

water to these important areas.

Continuing implementation of the Protecting and

Enhancing Priority Wetlands of the North Central CMA

Region project, which will maintain and improve the

ecological condition of six wetlands of international,

national or state significance within the region.

Continuing to monitor the impacts of the 2014 delivery of

environmental water into Gunbower Forest, via the

Hipwell Road channel. The forest ecosystem is a Ramsar

listed wetland and Australia's second-largest River Red

Gum forest that relies on regular flooding to maintain its

health.

Working in collaboration with community networks,

including the North Central Landcare and North Central

Waterwatch programs, as a platform for community

involvement in decision-making and broader community

engagement. Supporting the on-ground efforts of the

region’s community volunteers through our renewed

Regional Landcare Support Strategy.

Continuing to implement the ‘High Community

Significance project’ approach across the corporate family

to ensure that our project activities are undertaken with a

high degree of community engagement.

Providing leadership in the management of environmental

water delivery. We will continue to play a crucial role in

managing specific environmental entitlements and

providing input into water resource management in

unregulated waterways to protect environmental values,

responding to regional environmental water management

requirements, monitoring, and engaging with the

community on environmental management issues for

both rivers and wetlands.

Maintaining productive agricultural land - through the

FarmWater Program, the Farming for Sustainable Soils 2

project and Healthy and Productive Irrigated Landscapes.

Consolidating and streamlining our floodplain and

statutory function responsibilities in partnership with two

other CMAs.

Distilling information from our NRM auditing of over 100

sites and telling the story of the enduring landscape

change we are achieving through our on-ground projects.

This process is helping to measure our effectiveness and

inform initiatives to achieve continual improvement.


In 2014-15 we are on track to meet all our statutory

obligations. This includes:

Consulting on the Bendigo and Castlemaine flood

mitigation and urban drainage plans, finalising a plan for

Heathcote and progressing a plan for Bridgewater.

Facilitating a successful Indigenous cultural heritage

mapping program with Barapa Barapa, documenting sites

of cultural significance and building the capacity of our

Indigenous community members.

Managing the delivery of 148 gigalitres of environmental

water to improve the health of our rivers and wetlands,

including sufficient water to flood 3,800 hectares of

Gunbower Forest and secure the health of the world’s

second-largest River Red Gum forest.

Engaging with our communities in enhancing our natural

environment and delivering education, biodiversity and

water use efficiency programs.

Involving over 850 farmers in soil related projects through

our Farming for Sustainable Soils project (phases 1 and 2).

Hosting the third annual Future Farming Expo involving

over 140 participants from across the region.

Removing willows from Gunbower Creek and the

Campaspe River, Kyneton.

Completing business cases for two significant Sustainable

Diversion Limits (SDL) projects for Guttrum Benwell Forest

and Gunbower National Park.

Partnerships and programs

Effective partnerships are critical to achieving our purpose of

enhancing the integrity of our catchments. The level of

achievement reached in 2014-15 has not been possible

without the assistance of major agency and community

partnerships and the efforts of our dedicated staff. The

capacity to deliver so many projects has been built over the

past nine years through the investments we have made in both

systems and people.

Guided by our Regional Operating Agreement and RCS

Implementation Plan we will continue to work in partnership

with many people and organisations to provide value for both

our investors and our community.

We acknowledge the important role played by our partners,

who include the Australian and Victorian governments and

their agencies, local government, rural and urban water

corporations, local communities, landholders and Landcare

groups.

We will continue to provide strategic support and direction to

our reinvigorated regional Landcare movement of more than

160 groups in nine Landcare Networks comprising committed

and resilient community NRM volunteers.

Business excellence and efficiency

In 2015-16 we will undertake a third survey to measure our

efficiency and benchmark our performance under the

Australian Business Excellence Framework. In this ongoing

journey we will continue to improve the decision making

processes we use to guide our environmental investment, as

well as improve how the monitoring, evaluation and reporting

cycle informs our decisions. We will remain focused on

effective business systems, efficient work practices and

building a culture of continual improvement.

The North Central CMA has developed an organisation standard and associated performance benchmarks. ‘Anything but Standard’ is a decision-support system that is an integral part of the CMA's governance framework. It seeks to drive high performance and the 'way we do business', pushing us to think strategically about how we can most effectively and efficiently achieve our goals.

On behalf of the Board and Executive we look forward to guiding the actions in this Corporate Plan for 2015-16 through to 2019-20 and commend it to you.

David Clark Brad Drust

Chairman A/Chief Executive

Officer


About the North Central CMA The North Central Catchment Management Authority

(CMA) is the lead natural resource management (NRM)

agency in north central Victoria, delivering programs in

partnership with communities and other agencies to

protect and enhance the integrity of the region’s four river

catchments.

The Authority creates value for communities and the

environment by partnering with landholders, community

groups, volunteers, agencies and research institutions to

deliver the following services and responsibilities:

Natural Resource Management: Sourcing funds for on-ground projects and supporting agencies and community groups, such as our 160+ Landcare groups, to partner in the protection and enhancement of the region’s natural assets, including waterways and floodplains, wetlands, soil and biodiversity.

Identification of Regional Assets: Over 400 natural assets have been identified through community engagement and referenced within the 2013-19 North Central Regional Catchment Strategy.

Leading Regional Environmental Strategy and Policy: Providing advice to government on regional catchment issues and developing the 2014-22 North Central Regional Waterway Strategy for securing the health of our rivers and wetlands. The strategy allows for effective planning and delivery of environmental water and is critical to the health of the region’s waterways.

Flood and Disaster Response: Providing flood prediction advice to VicSES and coordinating flood recovery programs and funding.

Statutory Planning: Providing floodplain advice and issuing permits to protect life and property and support local government, planning authorities and communities with expert data and recommendations.

Environmental Water Management: Planning of the best-case scenario environmental water delivery to rivers and wetlands and implementing delivery.

Supporting sustainable agriculture: Advocating for the sustainable use of agricultural land, including working with the farming community to improve the quality of the region’s soils.

Established in 1997 under Victoria’s Catchment and Land

Protection Act 1994 (CaLP Act) the North Central CMA also has

powers and functions under the Water Act 1989. It is

accountable to the Minister for Environment, Climate Change

and Water, the Hon. Lisa Neville MP.

About the Catchment The North Central CMA region covers about three million

hectares or 13 per cent of Victoria. It is bounded by the

Murray River to the north, Mt Camel Range to the east and

the Great Dividing Range to the south.

The region spans a number of local government areas,

incorporating the Loddon Shire, Mount Alexander Shire,

Central Goldfields Shire, Hepburn Shire, most of the

Gannawarra Shire, City of Greater Bendigo and Campaspe

Shire. The northern part of the Northern Grampians Shire,

southern part of the Buloke Shire and parts of the Pyrenees

Shire, City of Ballarat, Macedon Ranges Shire and Swan Hill

Rural City also lie within the region.

The region has a population of more than 240,000 people,

concentrated in the growing regional hub of Bendigo, and

townships of Echuca, Swan Hill, Kyneton and Woodend. The

southern part of the region is a popular lifestyle choice for

“tree-changers” with the annual population growth

projected to continue at almost 50 per cent greater than

the average for regional Victoria.

The annual rainfall varies across the region from 300

millimetres (mm) in the north-west to over 1200 mm in the

south-east. Temperatures to the south often fall below 1°C

during the winter months while to the north regularly

reaches above 40°C in summer.

The North Central CMA region is agriculturally diverse.

Horticulture, dairying and dryland farming - particularly

grain cropping and livestock grazing - are the main

enterprises.

In the north of the region, the Loddon/Campaspe Irrigation

Area supports dairy, mixed farming and horticulture. In the

southern area, particularly near major population centres,

traditional agricultural pursuits are giving way to smaller

enterprises and rural living zones. While many profitable

farms remain south of Bendigo, this transition is being

driven by increased land amenity values, which in most

cases exceed the primary production capacity of the land.

Approximately 13 per cent of the North Central CMA region

is public land. The region’s rich natural assets have been

reserved as regional and national parks, internationally

significant wetlands, flora and fauna reserves and reference

areas from the gold-mining era.

About the North Central CMA


Our catchment at a glance

13 per cent of Victoria

240,000 residents

87 per cent private land holding

over 400 identified natural assets

Figure 1: The North Central CMA region

The North Central CMA region comprises four major river

catchments: Campaspe, Loddon and Avoca, and Avon–

Richardson. The Campaspe and Loddon rivers are regulated

systems that drain to the Murray River, while the Avoca

River flows into a series of terminal lakes and wetlands

known as the Avoca Marshes.

During large flood events, the Avoca may flow directly into

the Murray River and then to a further series of terminal

lakes. The Avon–Richardson catchment is internally

drained, with most surface water flowing into Lake Buloke.

Key Regional Issues

Water Reform, Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainability

Issues surrounding water reform continue to present

significant challenges for the region and are a major focus

for many activities. The soon to be implemented Murray-

Darling Basin Plan’s Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) on

the amount of surface water and groundwater that can be

taken from our water resources, along with irrigation

modernisation and rationalisation through Goulburn

Murray Water’s (GMW) Connections project and the

FarmWater Program, are significant issues and programs

affecting our irrigators and communities, particularly in the

north of the region.

Land use is changing rapidly as landholders adopt more

flexible farming systems to manage risks associated with

climate variability, irrigation modernisation and

rationalisation, water trade out of the region, Australian

Government water entitlement buyback and food security.

Water reform also provides potential opportunities for our

rivers and wetlands through increased environmental water

availability. We remain focused on programs that invest in

on-farm water use efficiency and increased agricultural

productivity such as the FarmWater Program and our

Farming for Sustainable Soils Program. Along with

environmental works and measures in Gunbower Forest,

we are ensuring we take advantage of opportunities

afforded by the changes happening in our region to

enhance our environmental, social and agricultural

outcomes. The North Central CMA continues to work

closely with landholders, local governments, the Murray-

Darling Basin Authority and partners such as the

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and

GMW on these important matters.

Urban Growth

Urban growth and population shift within the region remain

important issues and north central Victoria continues to

undergo significant transformation. Victoria’s top three

regional growth centres (the municipalities of Bendigo,

Macedon Ranges and Hepburn) are here in our region. With

population shift, demographic changes in the region’s north

and peri-urbanism in the south comes pressure on water

resources and the natural environment. These pressures

include clearing of native vegetation for increasing

urbanisation, and the building of residential properties near

reserve boundaries.


Population change and its effect on land use places

pressure on our statutory functions in protecting the

environment, promoting community capacity and

resilience, and maintaining productive agricultural land.

It is critical for strong linkages between the Loddon Mallee

(and also Grampians) Regional Growth Plans and the North

Central Regional Catchment Strategy to ensure pressures

on our natural environment are considered in future urban

growth planning.

It is also important to prepare the region for the climate

change predictions (including increased temperatures and

reduced rainfall) that will put pressure on both human

settlements and the region’s biodiversity. In response the

North Central CMA is leading the preparation of a Climate

Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan to complement the

North Central Regional Catchment Strategy. The Plan will

be finalised during 2015-16.

Form of this Corporate Plan The Corporate Plan has been prepared in accordance with

Sections 19C and 19D of the Catchment and Land Protection

Act 1994. The plan’s form complies with the required

specifications of the Minister for Environment, Climate

Change and Water, the Hon. Lisa Neville MP.

The Corporate Plan, together with the North Central CMA

Annual Report, provides the basis for:

planning, managing and monitoring the North Central

CMA’s overall performance

reporting to the Board and stakeholders on the North

Central CMA’s business

demonstrating compliance with legislative obligations

under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994,

Water Act 1989, Freedom of Information Act 1982,

Information Privacy Act 2000, Public Administration Act

2004, Financial Management Act 1994, and all

associated statutory instruments, ministerial directions

and departmental requirements.

Vision statement

Our mission

‘We will enhance the integrity of our catchments in partnership with our communities.’

Our vision

‘We will be a benchmark organisation.’


Part A: Statement of Corporate Intent and Business Plan

Strategic Direction The 2015-16 Corporate Plan is the fifth instalment in a

five-year journey to achieve the organisational vision to

become the benchmark organisation described below.

Having considered the current business context and the

success of previous corporate plans in laying the

foundations of business excellence, and operating with

purpose while meeting stakeholder commitments, the

North Central CMA Board has endorsed an on-going

commitment to the following Statement of Strategic

Intent.

Our Approach Best practice land-use planning for our floodplains

Optimising catchment outcomes from environmental

water use and river operations through a science and

community partnership

Attracting resources to protect and enhance assets

identified in our North Central Regional Catchment

Strategy in partnership with community

Supporting sustainable agriculture and landcare in

our region

Successfully sharing knowledge among community,

science and government stakeholders

Developing and maintaining capable teams.

Our Values Leadership: actively implementing, promoting and

supporting the values

Accountability: accepting responsibility for decisions

and actions

Respect: treating others fairly and objectively

Human Rights: respecting, promoting and supporting

human rights

Responsiveness: providing best standards of service

and advice

Impartiality: acting objectively

Integrity: earning and sustaining public trust.

Our Behaviours Knowledgeable, engaging and reliable

Seek to understand

Be honest and take responsibility

See something, do something

Show respect

Actively engage.

Targeted improvements

Whilst generally meeting stakeholder expectations, the

nature of reporting and maintaining governance

standards has become unsustainable with the current

level of resources. The resolve across our organisation is

to simplify the process of monitoring and reporting,

which will help demonstrate performance and increase

stakeholder satisfaction.

To achieve this goal, we have created an improvement

process and four projects have been established with

benefits expected to be demonstrated across the range

of ABEF performance areas and provide significant

outcomes in:

Operational efficiency, flexibility and responsiveness

Demonstrating value for customers and stakeholders

Improving employee productivity, satisfaction and

retention.

The Standard

The North Central CMA has developed an organisation standard and associated performance benchmarks. The Standard is an integral part of the CMA's governance framework. The Standard seeks to drive high performance through:

being at the heart of the 'way we do business', pushing us to think strategically about how we can most effectively and efficiently achieve our goals

being applicable across a range of scales o organisational - the Standard is to be used

throughout the range of activities delivered by the CMA including fieldwork, stakeholder interaction, corporate and office operations

o spatial - the Standard applies regardless of whether you are working at a single site or the entire region

o thematic and time scales - the RCS and the CMA's operations necessarily operate across a range of themes (community, waterways and floodplains, biodiversity, land and soils, wetlands) and a range of time scales from weeks to years and even decades.

o no matter what activity is being undertaken, the Standard is to be applied and the user should consider each of these scales when working out what to do

o providing a basis upon which to assess the diverse range of activities, projects and programs that are delivered by the CMA and report upon what's working and what's not

o periodically review the results of assessments against the Standard to continually refine and improve the quality of service delivery.


Figure 3: The Standard should be viewed as a whole and not a series of independent elements.

Customer and stakeholder feedback processes

Increasing knowledge about how stakeholders perceive

value will influence how we design key areas, such as

strategy and end-to-end processes, as well as the nature

of our services and scope of asset projects. Building on

the strong culture of partnering, we will actively seek

stakeholder feedback and integrate that feedback into all

facets of decision making.

Organisational monitoring, evaluation and reporting

(MER)

A review and systematic improvement of all MER

requirements including:

Organisational – dashboard-style key performance

metrics.

Strategy – effective execution of the 2013-19 North

Central Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS), the

2014-22 North Central Regional Waterway Strategy

and related NRM strategies and policies.

Project – demonstrating enduring environmental

change.

Community engagement – demonstrate the impact

of our community engagement, the increased

awareness and any practice change that results.

Business systems renewal

In recent years reporting requirements have grown in

both complexity and frequency. The past business

systems did not have the capacity or flexibility to provide

efficient reporting into the future.

The North Central CMA procured and installed a new

business system - Technology One - and had the system

configured for our business. We have now operated with

the new system for two years. We have also upgraded

our GIS infrastructure with the immediate aim of better

capturing our internal data and the longer-term aim of

enabling the community to capture and manage their

own data.

Business Objectives of the CMA

The flagship initiatives for this Corporate Plan’s next 12

months are:

Objective #1 - Meet all statutory and legislative

requirements

The North Central CMA will meet its accountabilities as

prescribed by the Victorian Catchment and Land

Protection (CaLP) Act 1994 and Water Act 1989.

Objective #2 - Maximise investment into the region’s

environmental assets

The North Central CMA will continue to actively seek

competitive funding through state and federal

government funding programs, other emerging

government investors and private organisations. It will

also investigate opportunities for recovery of funds on a

‘fee for service’ basis.

Objective #3 - Advance community NRM capacity

The North Central CMA will continue to develop

community capacity through its NRM program. We will

promote opportunities for the development and

implementation of effective environmental literacy

participatory education programs, such as Waterwatch

and Landcare.

Objective #4 - Deliver the NRM program outlined in Part

A of this plan

The North Central CMA will implement the asset and

enabling projects described in this plan. The 2013-19

North Central RCS Implementation Plan will continue to

drive our investment program beyond 2015-16.


Main Business Undertakings During 2015-16 we will:

Fulfil our stewardship obligations by implementing

the 2013-19 North Central Regional Catchment

Strategy and the 2014-22 Regional Waterway

Management Strategy.

Fulfil our statutory obligations to the Victorian

Government in monitoring the uptake of salinity

credits allocated across the region and provide

technical input to the Basin Salinity Management

Strategy Register A. We will complete five-year

reviews for the Barr Creek Catchment Strategy, the

Kerang Lakes/Swan Hill Salinity Management Plan,

and the Woorinen Irrigation District Excision.

Continue to implement the Caring for the Campaspe

River project - the first large-scale on-ground works

project delivering river health improvements to this

significant asset. The Campaspe River supports

important biodiversity within the Riverina and

Goldfield bioregions and contains many vulnerable,

threatened or depleted vegetation communities,

aquatic fauna (including the flagship species Murray

Cod and Platypus) and threatened terrestrial

species (Swift Parrot and Squirrel Gilder).

Complementing the river health improvements to

be gained through the delivery of environmental

water downstream of Lake Eppalock the project will

see the river become a healthier, better-flowing

system.

Implement the fourth year of the 'Kyneton

Woodlands' project which aims to assist landholders

to protect, manage and re-establish Grassy

Woodlands as biodiverse carbon stores on their

land in an area primarily north of Kyneton. The

project continues to work towards a target of re-

establishing 610 hectares of woodland vegetation

and to protect and enhance 950 hectares of

remnant woodlands by 2017.

Continue to lead the implementation of the

Northern Eco-Connections project across three

CMAs supporting landholders to improve and

protect native vegetation on private land, focusing

on improving connections and linkages across the

diverse landscapes of northern Victoria. This $4.59

million project is an initiative of the Victorian

Government’s Victorian Environmental Partnerships

Program being delivered in partnership with the

North Central, Goulburn Broken and North East

Catchment Management Authorities. The project is

being delivered through a conservation tender

process, with landholders submitting bids for work

they wish to undertake to improve native

vegetation on their properties.

Continue implementation of the Protecting and

Enhancing Priority Wetlands of the North Central

CMA Region project, which will maintain and

improve the ecological condition of wetlands of

international, national or state significance within

the region. The project focuses on the Central

Murray wetlands.

Continue monitoring the benefits of the 2014

delivery of environmental water into Gunbower

Forest, via the Hipwell Road channel. The forest

ecosystem is a Ramsar listed wetland and Australia's

second largest River Red Gum forest that relies on

regular flooding to maintain its health.

Continue to develop and investigate the Guttrum

and Benwell state forests and the Gunbower

National Park Environmental Works projects.

Work in collaboration with community networks,

including the North Central Landcare and North

Central Waterwatch programs, as a platform for

community involvement in decision-making and

broader community engagement.

Continue to implement the ‘High Community

Significance project’ approach across the corporate

family to ensure that our project activities are

undertaken with a high degree of community

engagement.

Continue providing leadership in the management

of environmental water delivery. We will continue

to play a crucial role in managing specific

environmental entitlements and providing input

into water resource management in unregulated

waterways to protect environmental values,

responding to regional environmental water

management requirements, monitoring, and

engaging with the community on environmental

management issues for both rivers and wetlands.

Continue to develop Environmental Water

Management Plans (EWMPs) as an important

strategic component of the Basin Plan

implementation.

In order to deliver the best possible solutions for

the environment and the communities’ dependent

on these river systems we facilitate six community-

based advisory groups. These are the Loddon


Environmental Water Advisory Group (LEWAG);

Campaspe Environmental Water Advisory Group

(CEWAG); the Central Murray Wetlands

Environmental Water Advisory Group (EWAG); the

Bullarook Creek Environmental Water Advisory

Group (BEWAG); the Wimmera Mallee wetlands

EWAG; and the Gunbower Community Reference

Group (GCRG). Environmental water is sourced from

both the Victorian and Commonwealth

Environmental Water Holders.

Continue to implement and review annually the

Regional Operating Agreement between the

delivery agencies to ensure that optimum agency

coordination and cooperation is being achieved and

is ongoing. This Regional Operating Agreement will

lead to greater clarity of roles and responsibilities

for service delivery in the region; eliminate

duplication of effort; promote efficiencies for

program delivery; provide for greater clarity at the

customer interface of who is doing what; and

provide an integrated front and consistent NRM

messaging to the community.

Continue to implement the Aboriginal Engagement

Policy that guides the North Central CMA approach

in working with Aboriginal people. This includes

ensuring that the aspirations and traditions of the

region’s Aboriginal stakeholders are incorporated

into the North Central CMA business, and that our

staff have the skills and appropriate training to work

productively with Aboriginal stakeholders.

Develop a Partnership Statement with the Dja Dja

Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation.

Implement the findings of the 2014 review into the

Floodplain Management and the Works on

Waterways Permit System across three CMAs to

provide improved, community-focused, efficient

and effective Floodplain Management and Works

on Waterways functions. Efficient and effective use

of our combined resources can be achieved by

sharing and optimising the workforce capabilities

and business processes and systems of the North

Central, Goulburn Broken and North East CMAs.

This is particularly important for situations of peak

community demand such as emergency flood

response. Consistency in business rules, protocols

and processes will provide for a better customer

experience and underpin the flexibility of staff to

work across regions.

Continue to participate in the $205 million

FarmWater Program ($133M allocated for Rounds 1-

3 and $70M forecast for Rounds 4 and 5) - an

investment in northern Victoria and a key

partnership between ourselves, Goulburn Broken

CMA and other agencies. The program funds on-

farm infrastructure to improve irrigation efficiency

and save water. This program has already directly

benefited 516 irrigators in Rounds 1-3 who, in both

the North Central and Goulburn Broken CMA

regions, have already transferred 31 gigalitres in

water savings to the environment.

Continue to implement the Kerang and Gunbower

NLP projects with an on-going strong focus on

community participation.

Promote sustainable land-management practices to

protect and enhance the resilience of our region’s

soils and priority assets through:

Farming for Sustainable Soils Phase 2

project (which has now engaged over 850

farmers in soil improvement activities)

Healthy Productive Irrigated Landscapes

Regional Sustainable Agriculture Strategy

Regional Landcare Coordinator and Regional

Landcare Facilitator projects.

Finalise a North Central Climate Change Adaptation

and Mitigation Plan to strengthen our strategic

planning approach for achieving enduring

environmental change across north central Victoria.


Nature and Scope of Activities Maintaining high standards of corporate governance is a

major focus of the North Central CMA.

The Board, its sub-committees and staff all have a strong

commitment to continual improvement in this area.

These high standards are supported through a structure

and culture that maintains the appropriate separation of

duties, and demands accountability and excellence in all

aspects of the business. Figure 4 describes the

governance framework and organisational structure.

Figure 5: The North Central CMA Board – Vanessa Murray (CEO and Board support); Damian Wells (former CEO); Melanie

McCarthy; James Williams; Dianne Bowles; Laurie Maxted; Julie Slater; David Clark (Chair), Julie Miller Markoff; Prue

Addlem; Stuart McLean.

Figure 4: 2015-16 Governance framework and organisational structure


Performance area Performance target Achievement commentary

Business Management and Governance

Submit annually a Board performance assessment report,

according to any guidelines issued

State if the report complied with any guidelines issued. OR If the report did not comply to any guidelines issued, explain the reason(s).

A risk management strategy approved by the Board and

being implemented

State if the strategy / plan is approved by the board and being implemented. OR if the strategy / plan is not approved by the board and being implemented, explain the reason(s)

100% of the CMA’s policies and procedures reviewed every

three years

State the percentage of policies and procedures reviewed during the prior three financial years OR if less than 100 per cent state the percentage achieved and state the reasons why 100 per cent was not achieved.

Full compliance with all applicable Standing Directions under

the Financial Management Compliance Framework Checklist.

State if full compliance was achieved. If full compliance was not achieved state which direction requirement(s) were not complied with and explain the reason(s) for non-compliance.

Regional Planning and Coordination

A Regional Catchment Strategy approved by the Minister Describe the status of the RCS at the end of the last financial year.

A Stakeholder and Community Engagement Framework

approved by the Board

Describe the status of the framework / plan at the end of the last financial year. OR If a framework / plan is not approved and being implemented explain the reasons.

A Regional Landcare Support Plan approved by the Board Describe the status of the plan at the end of the last financial year. OR If a plan is not approved explain the reasons.

A Regional Waterway Strategy approved by the Board Describe the status of the strategy at the end of the last financial year.

A Regional Floodplain Strategy approved by the Board Describe the status of the strategy at the end of the last financial year.

Land and Water Management Plans (LWMP) in designated

irrigation areas (or equivalent) approved by the Board

Describe the status of the LWMP at the end of the last financial year.

The regional contribution to the annual report on salinity

management activities and the allocation and update of salt

disposal entitlements is submitted to the department by 31

July or as otherwise directed by the department.

State the date when the regional contribution was submitted. If the regional contribution was not submitted by 31 July, or as otherwise directed, state the date when the regional contribution was submitted and the reason(s) for late submission.

Regional Delivery Progress with implementation of the RCS (and its major sub-

strategies) is reviewed by the board annually.

State if progress on implementation was reviewed by the Board by the end of the last financial year. OR If the progress on implementation was not reviewed by the Board, explain the reasons.

Projects / activities to implement the RCS are delivered and

reported according to associated funding agreements.

State if the projects / activities were delivered and reported according to associated funding agreements OR if the projects / activities were not delivered and reported according to the funding agreements explain the reason(s).

Projects / activities to implement the Regional Waterway

Strategy and the Regional Floodplain Management Strategy

are delivered and reported according to associated funding

agreements.


Projects / activities to implement the LWMP are delivered

and reported according to associated funding agreements.


Statutory functions under Part 10 of the Water Act

Ninety per cent of statutory requirements (permits, referrals,

advice and licences) associated with waterway and

floodplain management are responded to within the

prescribed period.

State the percentage of responses that were within the prescribed period OR if the percentage of responses within the prescribed period was less than 90 per cent explain the reasons AND identify if waterways and / or floodplain related responses were affected.

Statutory functions under Part 11 of the Water Act

Ninety per cent of statutory requirements (permits, referrals,

advice and licences) associated with irrigation management

are responded to within the prescribed period.

State the percentage of responses that were within the prescribed period OR if the percentage of responses within the prescribed period was less than 90 per cent explain the reasons.

Table 1: Performance Areas and Targets


Reporting and Review of Corporate Plan

The Board monitors progress against the Corporate Plan objectives at its meetings. North Central CMA’s performance, as

defined by the performance measures in the Corporate Plan, is reported in the Annual Report. In addition, its strategic

direction is updated each year based on changes occurring in the operating environment, including:

changes in revenue the drive for more cost-effective systems, processes and allocation of resources

Ministerial direction catchment condition

community feedback government reform.

Regional Program This Business Plan is informed by the North Central

CMA’s Statement of Strategic Intent as outlined in Part A

and ‘Our Purpose’; ‘To enhance the integrity of our

catchments in partnership with our communities.’

Through this plan, we focus our resources, energies and

funding (as outlined in Part A) on this principal task to

benefit communities, stakeholders and the environment.

The organisational improvement initiatives outlined in

Part A are providing significant benefits to the Business

Plan and our ability to improve its value to stakeholders

through efficiency gains and redirecting effort from

reporting and administration into on-ground works.

In conjunction with investment partnerships with the

Victorian and Australian Governments, we continue to

work with local government and regional communities to

secure funds and deliver both the Regional Landcare and

Waterwatch programs.

We acknowledge the need to balance targeted

investment while effectively engaging NRM stakeholders,

and will continue to monitor this mix in conjunction with

government funding partners, to create the best possible

outcomes for stakeholders and the environment.

Developing Catchment Management Authorities

We are committed to assisting government with the

development of catchment management authorities to

ensure they remain a relevant and valuable function of

government. In particular, we believe CMAs can add

value in the following areas:

Victorian Auditor General Office (VAGO) process.

Responding to VAGO observations there is an

opportunity to improve the effectiveness of CMAs by

participating in sector response through initiatives

including integrated catchment management

framework, governance models and investment

approaches.

Environmental Accounts: In collaboration with

concerned scientists and economists representing

diverse government functions, as well as other

agencies, we support the development of a set of

environmental accounts for the effective creation of

environmental policy. Our experiences will be shared

through the Victorian Catchment Management

Council to inform state partners and regional

colleagues.

Business Systems: In the last few years there has

been a vast increase in expectations for the amount,

sophistication and frequency of reporting. This is

acknowledged among CMAs as a considerable

burden. To be consistent with government

expectations in terms of efficiency, streamlining,

automation, labour saving and risk elimination from

manual systems we have implemented a new

business system that has now been fully operational

for two years and is already improving our

management and the quality of our reporting. Along

with an NRM audit report - involving an assessment

of more than 100 on-ground projects over the last

two years - we are using our business system to help

demonstrate the enduring landscape change we are

achieving.

Community and Stakeholder Engagement

The North Central CMA’s goal is for catchments to

support successful communities through enabling

profitable and sustainable economic activity including:

a world-class irrigation sector

a world-class dryland agricultural sector

viable and diverse industries based in vibrant urban

and rural centres.

The North Central CMA is a leader in regional

engagement with strong links to Landcare, Waterwatch

and other community NRM networks. Through the

execution of the 2013-19 RCS, asset projects (listed in

Table 2) are designed to secure the improved condition

of the region’s four catchments.

The North Central CMA will review its Community

Engagement Strategy in 2015.


In the 2014-15 year we commenced implementation of a

new ‘High Community Significance project’ approach

across the corporate family to ensure that our project

activities are undertaken with a high degree of

community engagement.

Projects that are regarded as successful in recent years

have three common ingredients, namely, ‘commitment’,

‘ownership’ and ‘project visibility’. ‘Model’ projects

include many of the recently developed flood mitigation

plans, the Hipwell Road Gunbower Watering

Infrastructure project, the RCS and Regional Waterway

Strategies and the Regional Climate Change Adaptation

and Mitigation Plan (in development). In these projects,

each part of the corporate family respected each other’s

role and fulfilled the requirements of their own.

Successful projects underpinned by effective community

engagement are fundamental ingredients in the

successful delivery of the North Central Regional

Catchment Strategy.

Our achievements are made possible through

coordinating, developing and implementing key on-

ground programs in partnership with local communities.

This continues to be the cornerstone of our activities. We

undertake these programs directly or through

partnerships with the Department of Environment, Land,

Water and Planning, (DELWP), the Department of

Economic Development, Trust for Nature, local

government, Regional Development Australia, and the

Murray-Darling Basin Authority. Partners also include

regional water corporations, educational institutions,

research bodies, the private sector and the local

community. These important relationships allow us to

continue to successfully deliver NRM projects with

meaningful stakeholder and community input.

Regional Catchment Strategy

The North Central Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS) is

required under the Catchment and Land Protection Act

(1994). The North Central RCS is the key planning

document that sets regional priorities for the future

management of natural resources across the region. The

RCS spans a six-year period (2013-19) and provides focus,

coordination and direction for all NRM work in the

region. It will strengthen the links between rivers,

landscapes and people across this unique area.

We have developed an RCS Implementation Plan to guide

our work with the community and partner organisations

to ensure a strong collaborative approach to

implementing the RCS. A joint Board and NRMC sub-

committee oversee the RCS Implementation plan.

Development process The North Central CMA is the lead NRM agency in north

central Victoria for coordinating and monitoring NRM

programs. We embrace this responsibility by employing

best practice principles in managing and protecting the

region’s diverse environmental assets and striving to

achieve enduring outcomes and a healthy and

sustainable environment. Our approach is to ensure:

our investment priorities align with those of the Victorian and Australian Governments

continued implementation of the RCS and sub-strategies

outcomes are delivered through the most efficient business processes

all activities are monitored and evaluated through the project life cycle, including establishing resource condition baselines at the start of the project.

Objective and key principles

The overarching objective of the North Central CMA

investment process is to maximise the benefits of NRM

investment into the region. The following principles were

used in determining our 2015-16 Regional Investment

Plan:

Ensure sufficient flexibility for the North Central CMA to adapt to changes in Victorian Government policy and investment priorities, as well as future Board direction.

As far as practical, achieve asset goals of existing projects within the next 18 months in accordance with the above principle.

Manage the expectations of government, science and community by: o implementing the recommendations from the

Investment Framework for Environmental Resources review panel

o considering any of the NRMC’s recommendations o seeking investor feedback on all project proposals

before submitting any project for funding as part of the broader Regional Investment Plan.

In response to investment criteria, we have developed

proposals that are:

policy-led

science-based

asset-based

collaborative

risk assessed.

We are confident that our 2015-16 projects meet a range

of investment criteria and guidelines, and that they will

greatly benefit our community and stakeholders.


Program Overview The North Central CMA’s broad funding priorities include:

compliance with statutory obligations under the relevant Acts

protecting and enhancing Ramsar wetlands

increasing landscape connectivity of priority NRM assets

increasing the capacity of communities to actively participate in NRM

maintaining productive agricultural land

protecting threatened species and ecological communities.

The North Central CMA’s 2015-16 Investment Program is

a regional program that best reflects our statutory

responsibilities, our available resources and the level of

investment we have secured for the region.

The primary focus of the Regional Program is to ensure

the implementation of projects directly contributing to

the delivery of North Central CMA’s statutory functions.

In addition to the delivery of statutory obligations, the

focus of the Regional Program is to coordinate the

delivery of projects that address the threats to both ‘well

defined’, specific assets, and also to priority ‘diverse

assets’ (e.g. irrigated land) spread across a large

geographic area. Investment in the Regional Program will

ensure that the North Central CMA meets its obligations

against all Victorian and Australian government

investment priorities.

The program takes an integrated approach to the

management of NRM assets consistent with the

objectives of the 2013-19 North Central Regional

Catchment Strategy, the Loddon Campaspe Irrigation

Region Land and Water Management Plan and the 2014-

22 North Central Regional Waterway Strategy. The North

Central Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan

(in development and to be finalised early in 2015-16) will

strengthen our strategic planning approach for achieving

enduring environmental change across north central

Victoria by factoring in the vulnerability of different

assets to the climate change predictions for the region.

The design of the Regional Program has been largely

guided by asset-based investment frameworks – INFFER,

the Healthy Productive Landscapes Framework, and

NaturePrint. The key threats and risks to assets will be

actively addressed, with targeted investment to be

undertaken in areas critical to achieving success. All

works proposed under this program comply with

Vegetation Works Standards (DSE, 2011).

The future health of the natural environment depends on

the actions of people in north central Victoria, and their

ability to implement and resource NRM projects. This

program will build on past successes in improving the

capacity of regional communities to deliver enduring

environmental change.

Successful delivery of the Regional Program will

contribute to:

increasing the extent of improved and protected

habitat for biodiversity

reducing the impacts of invasive plants and animals

reducing the risk of salinity on land and water assets

improving the quality of water and soil health

increasing the capacity of individuals, land managers,

community groups and institutions to manage the

region’s natural resources in a sustainable and

culturally sensitive manner.

Supported by the application of INFFER the Regional

Program addresses the following threats to assets in the

region:

salinity

altered water flows

vegetation removal/habitat loss

inappropriate land use

declining/poor water quality

erosion and soil disturbance

invasive plants and animals

climate change.

If these threatening processes are left unchecked, the

health and sustainability of our ecosystems will continue

to decline, putting at risk the priority environmental

assets and the threatened species, farm productivity and

ecosystem functions they support.


Table 2: 2015-16 Corporate Plan Project List

Table 2 lists the range of known and unconfirmed projects for 2015-16.

Project title Type

Administration of Statutory Functions Obligatory

Basin Plan EWMPs Enabling

Caring for the Campaspe Asset

Central Murray Wetlands Asset

Community Grants (NLP) Enabling

Environmental Water Reserve Officers Enabling

Farming for Sustainable Soils 2 Enabling

Farm Water Program Enabling

Flood Plain Management Enabling

Healthy Productive Irrigated Landscapes Enabling

Kamarooka Wetlands Asset

Kerang and Gunbower Wetlands Protection Asset

Kooyoora Connections project Enabling

Kyneton Woodlands project Asset

Native Fish Recovery Enabling

North Central Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan Enabling

North Central Regional Waterways Strategy Enabling

North Central Waterwatch Enabling

Northern Eco-Connections (VEPP) Enabling

Project RENEW Enabling

Protecting Remnant Grassy Ecosystem Asset

Protecting and Enhancing Regional Priority Wetlands (VEWH) Enabling

Recreational Fishing Grant – Pyramid Creek Enabling

Recreational Fishing Grant – Irrigation screens Enabling

Regional Floodplain Strategy Enabling

Regional Indigenous engagement Enabling

Regional Landcare Coordinator Enabling

Regional Landcare Facilitator Enabling

Reporting and Accounting for Salinity Obligatory

River Maintenance Enabling

SDL Offsets Gunbower Enabling

SDL Offsets Guttrum Benwell Enabling

TLM Enviro Delivery Asset

TLM Gunbower Forest Asset

TLM Indigenous Partnership Enabling

VEFMAP Wetland Monitoring Enabling

Victorian Landcare Grants Enabling

Note: Asset = primary focus to protect and enhance the environmental values of spatially defined physical assets; Enabling = primary focus to create community capacity, engagement or extension services; Obligatory = legislated services.


Figure 6: North Central CMA’s RCS Priority Assets Summary


Risk management The North Central CMA’s risk framework is consistent

with the International Risk Management Standard

AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009, as illustrated in Figure 7.

The North Central CMA Board and Executive team

continually revisits our approach to risk management.

Key risks associated with the achievement of the North

Central CMA’s strategic priorities and related goals have

been identified and best practice processes are in place

to deal with these risks, should they materialise.

The Authority maintains a risk register, and the audit

committee reviews organisational risks and reports to

the Board as appropriate.

Figure 7: The International Risk Management Standard ISO 31000:2009

Table 3 provides a summary of the North Central CMA’s approach to risk in key categories. The information is based on

representations made by the North Central CMA Board and Executive team.


Table 3: Summary of Major Risks

Risk

Description Strategy Category

Failure to

deliver to

stakeholder

expectations

The North Central CMA exists to create value for the community. Value can only be created while the

organisation retains public trust and the confidence of the Government. Failure to meet community,

investor and Government expectations puts the reputation, funding and sustainability of the

organisation at risk. Specifically, we must ensure that we retain a high-functioning governance

framework that facilitates the delivery of our statutory obligations as well as our contractual

commitments and Ministerial expectations.

Strategic and Political

Injury or

accident to

staff or other

involved

person

Under the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 the North Central CMA is required to provide and maintain a safe workplace for staff, contractors and the general public. Under common law, the North Central CMA also has a duty of care to all staff, contractors and the general public. OHS reports KPIs monthly to Audit Committee. To achieve this, the North Central CMA aims to actively promote a safety culture in the business and provide a safe and secure workplace by developing, maintaining and continually improving a safety system that assesses and effectively manages and where possible reduces the various risks associated with the work undertaken at the North Central CMA. To support these processes all staff are provided with appropriate training, information, equipment and facilities to undertake their work.

Occupational Health

and Safety

Inadequate

provision of

emergency

response

The North Central CMA has roles in emergency response and recovery (particularly floods) defined by

the Water Act and our Statement of Obligations and must ensure that it discharges its accountabilities

to prepare, protect and assist recovery of the regional community. In order to achieve this the North

Central CMA will maintain relevant Response Action Plans that describe the actions the organisation

will take and ensure appropriate staff resources are available to deliver the plans at all times.

Compliance with these requirements will be monitored through annual review of Response Action

Plans, periodic 'mock events' and evaluation following activation of any Plan.


Failure of a

project

The North Central CMA receives funding from a range of sources (primarily Government) to undertake projects that contribute to delivering enduring environmental change and must ensure that these projects deliver on the expectations of the investor, community and Government. In order to achieve this, the North Central CMA will apply decision support tools to select feasible projects, conduct an annual project planning process and will ensure deliver of projects consistent with North Central CMA operational procedures. Compliance with these requirements will be monitored through annual investment processes, project plan approvals, a project audit methodology and the MERI Framework.


Ongoing

viability of

entity

The North Central CMA must ensure it is financially solvent, able to withstand changes in external

circumstances and manage emergency situations whilst still able to meet obligations on an ongoing

basis. In order to achieve this, the North Central CMA will not commit beyond known funding, will

retain a contingency fund to meet unexpected costs or funding cuts and protect itself from loss through

insurance or other contractual arrangements. Compliance with these requirements will be monitored

through annual budgeting, preparation of monthly and annual accounts, daily treasury management,

review by Audit Committee and auditors (including Financial Management Compliance Framework).

Financial Management

Failure to

comply with

statutory &

compliance

requirements

North Central CMA must comply with all statutory and compliance requirements including relevant

parts of The Catchment and Land Protection Act, The Water Act, The Finance Act and directives

received from Ministers and government departments. These requirements will be met through

adherence to policies and procedures, maintaining records and reporting to management, Audit

Committee and Board and providing reports and declarations to Ministers (including Annual Report,

Corporate Plan, and declarations including fraud, asset loss, credit card use. Compliance with these

requirements will be monitored through review by Audit Committee and auditors (including Financial

Management Compliance Framework).

Compliance

Inability to

demonstrate

natural asset

improvement

The RCS provides a long-term vision for NRM and provides direction regarding priorities and

investment. To ensure that the North Central CMA remains relevant it is important to be able to

demonstrate to Government and the community that we are meeting targets set in the RCS and that

we are creating enduring environmental change. This can be done by ensuring best science is being

used and that a robust Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement framework is implemented

and that the CMA can tell the story about the environmental benefits achieved.

Operational

Loss of social

licence to

operate

The risk arising from negative perception on the part of stakeholders (including Government Ministers,

investors and the communities with whom we work) can adversely affect the North Central CMA's

ability to maintain existing, or establish new, relationships and have continued access to resources.

Policies and procedures are in place to limit our exposure to negative media and adverse community

opinion; including negative comments posted on social media.



Part B (1): Financial Statements

Compliance with Australian Accounting Standards The North Central CMA prepares the annual general

purpose financial report in compliance with Australian

Accounting Standards, other authoritative

pronouncements of the Australian Accounting Standards

Board, the requirements of the Financial Management

Act 1994 and applicable Ministerial Directions.

Three year financial statements Revenue for 2014-15 is expected to be $18.0M. The

amount of unspent project funds expected to be carried

into 2015-16 is $4.7M. This is reflected in the cash

balance of $5.4M.

The approach for 2015-16 and beyond is to take a

conservative view on revenue by including only

confirmed or highly likely funding. This results in revenue

falling to $11.2M in 2015-16 with small increases in

subsequent years from anticipated SDL revenue.

Based on lower revenue the forecast is to record an

operating deficit in 2015-16 as the unspent project funds

balance reduces to $1.7M at 30 June 2016.

For 2016-17 and 2017-18 reduced unspent funds in most

projects are expected to be offset by some of the SDL

revenue carrying forward to future years.

Forecasts for corporate and support functions, capital

expenditure and cash flow have been managed to ensure

a sound financial position is maintained despite the lower

revenue figures.

Disclosure of any corporate overheads allocated to projects Business improvements providing productivity gains have

enabled the North Central CMA to keep its standard

corporate charge to nine per cent of revenue for 2015-

16. This charge covers general business support and

administrative functions, and access to organisational

infrastructure.

Where applicable levy charges for direct support services

apply to the following functions:

GIS and spatial information: 1.25 per cent

Spatial and data systems, map production.

Communications: 2.5 per cent

Marketing, event coordination, community

engagement.

Indigenous Engagement: 2.0 per cent

Compliance, Indigenous community engagement.

This costing model is consistent with the

recommendations of the SCRIVCO report and the

principle that projects should bear the true costs of

delivery through the full lifecycle of the project.

Project costing principles The North Central CMA applies the following principles in

costing any project and determining the nature of works

and action to be undertaken.

1. Right scope: agree with funding partners on the

SMART goals considering right outcome, right

intervention, right approach.

2. Compliance: meet all project governance

requirements (Organisational Performance

Panel, Audit Committee, Board Review, Standing

Grants panel as required) including legislative

and statutory obligations; applicable policies and

best management practices (project planning

incorporating MERI and Engagement); and

stakeholder service level agreements.

3. Value for money: utilise decision support tools

such as INFFER to qualify investment thresholds,

opportunities for multiple outcomes,

environmental benefits and demonstrate

cost/benefit ratio.

4. Enduring environmental outcomes: the

outcomes of the project must be sustainable for

the benefit of future generations.

5. Transparent costing: in context of principles 1 to

4, project costing considers past experience and

applicable productivity gains through innovation

and improvements to deliver the most cost

effective solutions for our stakeholders.


Part B (2): Financial Statements

Table 4: Planned programs for the forthcoming financial year

North Central CMA Planned Programs

2015-16 Forecast Income & Expenditure by Source of Funding

State - Statutory

State - Discretionary

State -Disaster Recovery

C'wealth Other Total Revenue

Proposed Expenditure

$ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's

Income

Corporate & Statutory Operations

Board, NRMC, CEO & Finance

762

762 902

Other Revenue (including staff secondments)

50

50

Interest

90

90

Total Corporate & Statutory Operations

762 140 902 902

Total Project Funded Programs 1,407 4,621 4,256 10,284 13,284

Total North Central CMA 2,169 4,621 4,256 140 11,186 14,186


Table 5: Five-Year Operating Statement

Actual Operating Statement Forecast Current

Year Forecast Forecast Forecast

2013/14

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

$ 000's

$ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's

Statutory Operations: Governance

905 Corporate Funding 802 762 724 688

171 Interest 179 90 80 70

194 Other (includes staff secondments) 86 50 50 50

Project Grants

State Government

971 Victorian Water Group (VIF/EC) - Statutory 1,142 1,407 1,407 1,407

3,798 Victorian Water Group (VIF/EC) - Other 3,400 4,136 4,136 4,136

2,938 Natural Disaster Relief & Recovery 0 0 0 0

2,295 Victorian Environmental Partnerships Program 2,068 0 0 0

973 Victorian Common Fund Agreement 105 325 0 0

503 Natural Disaster Resilience Grants Scheme 1,025 0 0 0

3 DELWP - Fisheries 22 160 0 0

17 Other 16 0 0 0

Commonwealth Government

3,170 Caring for Our Country 1,938 0 0 0

0 National Landcare Program 1,344 2,662 2,662 2,662

1,216 The Living Murray 887 800 800 800

2,641 Department of Environment 3,976 180 2,600 2,400

741 Land Sector Package 493 444 0 0

261 Action on the Ground 190 170 135 0

150 Sustainable Water Use 0 0 0 0

100 Coal Seam Gas 0 0 0 0

389 Carbon Action Plan 21 0 0 0

0 Other 0 0 0 0

Other Funding

480 Water Corporations 65 0 0 0

81 Local Government 119 0 0 0

0 Local Government 106 0 0 0

(204) Other 43 0 0 0

21,792 Total Revenue 18,029 11,186 12,594 12,213

Expenditure

Corporate & Statutory Operations

199 Board 173 180 180 180

139 NRMC 173 170 170 170

404 Chief Executive Officer & support 410 380 380 380

424 Strategic Fund 394 0 0 0

466 Business Manager & support 466 440 440 440

2,057 Other Statutory & Support functions 1,869 1,732 1,684 1,638

(2,344) Recovery from Project Programmes (2,202) (2,000) (2,000) (2,000)

17,884 Project Programmes 19,224 13,284 11,740 11,095

19,231 Total Expenditure 20,506 14,186 12,594 12,213

2,561 Operating Surplus (Deficit) (2,477) (3,000) 0 0


Table 6: Five-Year Statement of Cash Flows

Actual Statement of Cash Flows

Forecast Current

Year Forecast * Forecast * Forecast *

2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Receipts:

905 Corporate Funding 802 762 724 688

171 Interest 179 90 80 70

194 Other (includes staff secondments) 86 50 50 50

Grants:

11,497 Receipts from State 7,778 6,028 5,543 5,543

8,667 Receipts from Commonwealth 8,850 4,256 6,197 5,862

356 Receipts from Other Investors 333 0 0 0

257 (Increase) / Decrease in Debtors 1,319 350 0 0

Payments:

(12,576) Payments to suppliers (13,649) (8,286) (7,244) (6,863)

(578) Increase / (Decrease) in Creditors (313) 99 0 0

(6,100) Payments to employees and staff costs (6,365) (5,500) (5,000) (5,000)

2 Increase / (Decrease) in Staff Liabilities 168 (165) 0 0

2,797 Net cash provided by operation activities (811) (2,316) 350 350

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

(452) Payments for purchase of fixed assets & intangibles (400) (400) (400) (400)

432 Proceeds on disposal of fixed assets & intangibles 253 200 200 200

(20) Net Cash used in investing activities (147) (200) (200) (200)

2,777 Net increase (decrease) in cash held (958) (2,516) 150 150

3,562 Cash at the beginning of the financial year 6,340 5,382 2,866 3,016

6,340 Cash at the end of the financial year 5,382 2,866 3,016 3,166


Table 7: Five-Year Balance Sheet

Actual

Balance Sheet

Forecast Current Year

Forecast Forecast Forecast

2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

$ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's

Assets

Current Assets

6,340 Cash / Deposits

5,382 2,866 3,016 3,166

2,669 Receivables

1,350 1,000 1,000 1,000

Non Current Assets

2,612 Fixed Assets

2,313 2,113 1,963 1,813

11,621 Total Assets 9,044 5,978 5,978 5,978

Liabilities

Current Liabilities

1,214 Accounts Payable / Accruals 901 1,000 1,000 1,000

1,018 Employee Provisions

1,175 1,000 1,000 1,000

Non Current Liabilities

109 Employee Provisions

120 130 130 130

2,341 Total Liabilities 2,196 2,130 2,130 2,130

9,280 Net Assets 6,848 3,848 3,848 3,848

Equity

229 Contributed Capital - 1/7/1997 229 229 229 229

8,527 Contributed Capital - surplus transfer 8,527 8,527 8,527 8,527

755 Asset Revaluation

800 800 800 800

6,944 Project Funded Surplus 3,944 944 944 944

(7,174) Accumulated Surplus (Deficit) (6,651) (6,651) (6,651) (6,651)

9,280 Total Equity 6,848 3,848 3,848 3,848

Table 8: Depreciation schedule

Actual

Movement in Fixed Assets and Intangibles

Forecast Current Year

Forecast Forecast Forecast

2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

$ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's $ 000's

3,150 Opening Written Down Value 2,612 2,313 2,113 1,963

(562) Depreciation

(492) (400) (350) (350)

452 Additions

400 400 400 400

0 Revaluation 45

(427) Disposals at Written Down Value (253) (200) (200) (200)

2,612 Closing Written Down Value 2,313 2,113 1,963 1,813


Figure 8: Summary of financial results and forecasts ($ millions)

Part B (3): Cost Recovery

North Central CMA continues to investigate the

opportunity to develop a range of services available to

communities on a ‘fee for service’ basis in accordance

with the Cost Recovery Guidelines issued by the

Department of Treasury and Finance.

This relates to services provided within our Statutory

Functions program. Initial services offered on a fee

recovery basis could include:

1. Works on waterway permits 2. Flood level advice.

(5)

0

5

10

15

20

25

97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18

Total Revenue from Ordinary Activities

Total Expenditure from Ordinary Activities

Surplus for the Year from Ordinary Activities

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